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A bottom of the 9th, come-back, walk-off win? Does it get better? Yes. It does. It was against the Cardinals.

Matt Garza didn’t have his best stuff, but he certainly pitched well enough to win, especially against a potent Cardinals’ lineup. The Cubs didn’t have an extra base hit all night, and the bats mostly slumbered, but a walk by Bryan LaHair, a walk by Geovany Soto, and then a game-winning single by Joe Mather. Bam. Nicely done, boys.

Yet, somehow, the walk-off win might not have been the most shocking thing tonight…

In his one AB in the 9th, LaHair saw 12 pitches. For the game, Soriano saw 15, Baker 8, Soto 15, and Johnson 8. His plate discipline is so awesome. It feels really, really good to be on the other end of a game like this.

MaxM1908

Agreed. That fighting at-bat also sucked the life out of Motte. He threw four straight balls against Soto. All of sudden, we had a shot to win. Well done, LaHair, and well done Mather delivering in a tight spot.

Heybails91

I just dont understand, why not give the guy a chance everyday. I mean, he cant strike out more than soriano, and he has way-the-fuck better plate discipline.

Mrp

Yeah that AB was just epic. I really hope he gets some consideration for left field when Rizzo is eventually called up. He can’t be much worse then Sori. Hell, old man Berkman even played the outfield last year with a cane and the Cards got away with it.

RY34

Would we really miss any of those four if they suddenly vanished? Regardless great win for the Cubs tonight! Big cahones by both LaHair and Mather in the 9th!

morgan

mather should be starting in LF every day, soranio needs released or traded for a case of beer, Mather just reminds me of jayson worth

Mrp

Hmm, the Red Sox probably have a lot of left over beer they could send our way. Start up the rumor mill!

JoeSchmoe

In that case never give him a big contract.

drew

Good for Mather tonight, but its not a good sign for your team if hes your starting LF

Corey

I’m glad Mather spent enough time with the Cardinals to learn how to use their voodoo magic.

gratefulled

How about Dolis getting us out of the eighth. Nice work Cubs!

Segal27

I ask again, when is my Joe Mather jersey coming?

EB

That was awesome!! Way to go Joe! The Cubs needed that!

Andrew

haha I think Garza now has a higher BA than Byrd did.

JustSwain

Byrd got a hit today for Boston, and Garza’s is still higher.

wernert

I gave up in the 8th. I hate the Cardinals. I love Joe Mather. Win is good. Win is goooooooooood.

MichiganGoat

This felt sooooo good!

rcleven

After 23 pitches in the first inning didn’t think Garza would make it thru 7. Probably best all around performance out of for him in a wile. Successful sac bunt and a hit to boot.

cerambam

cardinals post game news casters pleading to their fans that ” they didnt jinx the game just cause they said the cardinals would win on twitter” and ” we hate to hear that dumb song” and ” we all know its been well over a hundred years since the cubs won a world series, so thats the trump card” AND “the hawks are about to get eliminated” I SURE DO HATE THESE GUYS

Andrewmoore4isu

Watched the game cast version of the cubs game. Every pitch to soto was in the strike zone. I’m happy we won but could have ended very differently had they been called for strikes like game cast showed them. I won’t complain. Happy for Mather and the cubs.

chris margetis

Not one was a strike. That game cast zone is BS.

Andrewmoore4isu

Just reporting what I saw

YoungCub

i was told last week that gamecast isn’t always accurate. i don’t get to watch very many games and noticed a lot of “strikes” on gamecast were being called balls. when i commented on it, someone said they were actually balls “in real life” haha not sure how else to put that.

MaxM1908

I watched that at-bat and I would not say a single pitch was in the zone, or even questionable.

rcleven

Gamecast lied. Mott was not even close to the zone on Soto’s AB.

CBP

Mather since Byrd has been traded has more hits than Byrd had with the Cubs. I reall hope Mather can be the first cub outfield to hit a HR. Mather, Campana, Lahair, Garza, Johnson,Barney, and Castro all have some spark that a fan loves. Campana should be the future CF and Jackson should be in right when brought up. Campana swing looks so much better. Clevenger even though he hit a ground out he still made contact to move over the runners.

cerambam

now they just said lets go into that ” TINY little managers office” sore losers

Kyle

Winning is fun. That was awesome.

Cee-Dee-Vee

Great win! Dolis looked good, Russel was good enough and Garza finished strong.

Campana platooning with Mather and Reed? Uhhh nooo..how about Campana and Mather starting and Reed and Soriano sit

Don’t see Jackson as a lead off hitter. Strikes out too much(25% of AB’s). Lead off hitter needs to look at a lot of pitches.

Drew

Isnt that why he strikes out alot? I have to admit to not seeing much of him at the plate, but my impression was that he went really deep into counts most of the time and doesnt really “shorten-up” with two strikes. I could be wrong though.

ferrets_bueller

It is true. Most hitters with SO problems dont see a lot of pitches, but Jackson does. This is yet another case where simply looking at his line wont tell you the whole story. His BA would probably go UP if he was more aggressive. But his OBP would most likely go down.

Drew

Thanks, thats what I thought.

I agree with you about his OBP if he were more aggressive. I would venture to guess his his OPS as a whole would see a decline. With a player like Jackson, I’d rather live with the SO’s than see that.

Steve

Here here!!!

Seth

Yes, i heard all of that. That is something that Len and Bob would NEVER do.. bunch of sore losers.

No one has really mentioned this yet… but although he made an out, Clevenger made a “productive” out. if he would have just flawed away and struck out, it’d probally be 2-2 in the 10th inning right now.

MichiganGoat

Yes that was as good as you can hope from
An out.

Zogie

What a day for Joe Mather! Kudos to the Cubs pitching for only giving up 2 runs on 5 hits. Garza looked decent and Russell and Dolis combined for 2 scoreless frames. They had some luck with a couple line drive double plays, but they got the job done. DeJesus 0-4, 2K, has not looked too good at the plate lately and has had a rough time with RISP. Just 1 RBI this season. Barney 2-3, BB. He continues to hit and play great defense. Castro 1-4, GIDP, had a few bad ABs, but he played good defense today. He did have another mistake today being picked off trying to steal second. Soriano continues to struggle going 0-3, K, but he did get the job done driving in the Cubs first run on a sac fly. Baker went 0-3 with 2 terrible and 1 bad AB. Soto went 0-3, BB, K. He continues to struggle at the plate, but he came through with a walk in the 9th. Johnson went 0-3, K, GIDP, with 2 terrible and 1 bad AB. Mather 2-3, BB, 2RBI. I have been saying for weeks that he needs more ABs and look what happens. Adda boy! LaHair had 1 Great AB fouling off pitch after pitch to earn the 12 pitch walk. Why not make him the everyday starter even against lefties? Clevenger went 0-1, but he did advance both LaHair and Soto in the 9th to set up Mather. Campana went 1-1 and stole 2 bases. So the question is should Campana or Mather start in center? Great come-back win. Lastly, my shout out is obvious tonight, Joe Mather.

Spencer

Well, it’s not as if DeJesus has had a lot of chances with RISP with Soto, Byrd, Pitcher batting ahead of him for the majority of the season.

rcleven

DeJesus 0-4, 2K, has not looked too good at the plate lately and has had a rough time with RISP.

Have to disagree with your assessment. Dejesus has all tho unsuccessful tonight been a bright spot in this lineup. With the 7th and 8th hole being so unproductive there hasn’t been risp when he has come to the plate.

drew

Yeah, he may not have looked good TODAY, but lately?

Zogie

The past week DeJesus AVE. has dropped from .310 to .250. This season he is .154/.214/.154 with RISP. My key word is “lately” RCLEVEN. I love DeJesus at the top of the order and his approach.

rcleven

This early in the season a 0/4 or 4/4 can move an AVG 200 points because of small sample size. I don’t expect him to hit .300 or .250 for the year. Numbers skew to the negative because of # of opportunity. A walk is just as good as a hit for lead off hitter( Wish he had a little more power) and won’t show up in the above numbers.

It was a great win, but can you please watch your language. My daughter and other young Cubs fans read Bleacher Nation, because she loves the Cubs. I agree Mather needs to start tomorrow, and Soriano needs some time on the bench to try to remember how he used to be a 40 / 40 guy (before he became a Cub). Great Cubs Win !!! Let’s Go Cubs !!!

Dan

No problem!

bluekoolaidaholic

Wow, classy nice response Dan. Way to go!

MichiganGoat

I’ll give Soto this: he was very patient with the last AB and was motoring around the bases the second Mather made contact, if he slowed down for even a second the Cards would have had a plan. We may not be much of a hitting team but I have noticed my hustle and aggressive base running this year.

JoeSchmoe

Yes, we’re becoming a bit more….. scrappy.

MichiganGoat

Yes we are and as long as we’re winning I’m fine with that.

Spencer

Glad to see that it picked up again tonight. I think that’s key with a team with limited offensive prowess. Before tonight, the team had one steal in the last eight games. Hopefully tonight is a spark to get that goin again. Helps having Campy on the team finally, too.

Sweetjamesjones

Great win and yes those Cardinal after game announcers can go to hell. Sore losers.

BubblesHargrave

Hi everybody, I’m new to this awesome site, though I’ve been visiting it for months now.
I’m so excited! I was watching the game on game cast as well and noticed all the balls looked like strikes. Anyways Nice to meet all of you and I hope this is the start of something better!

Spencer

Welcome!

BubblesHargrave

How do I get my commenter profile picture to match my message board pic?

BubblesHargrave

By the way Bubbles Hargrave was a catcher on the 1914 Cubs. They had like 5 players with crazy names on that team, including a guy named Zip.

MichiganGoat

Go to gravatar.com set up an account and use the email you set up there when you comment here. Very easy and it’s used by multiple websites. BTW be sure to join the message board.

Andrewmoore4isu

Gravatar.com sign your email address up use said email address here

Ogyu

Thanks.

Jimmy james

Suffered through the cards announcers, glad it was worth it in the end

Ogyu

Those morans…

ty

Houston and Cards announcers have no shame!

BN Virgin

I think it’s awesome that Campana has as many hits in his 5 at bats as Byrd had in his 43 at bats.

Beautiful BN Apparel

BN on Video

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